The site was last updated on

24 Aug 2000

The Italian people love dogs and invest a lot of money on on them, no matter what breed or size. Since the first day I have arrived Milan I noticed there are many dogs around - all are with their owners and no stray dogs. The part that surprised me a lot was that out of 30+ dogs I noticed every day only one or two of them were mixed breed.
Almost all the dogs were pure breed, you could actually see people walking around with a Chow Chow or a beautiful Dalmatian. I must say I wasn't used to see people walking around with such an attractive dog without being interested in dog shows at all. When you walk around here or the US, every second dog is mixed and most people let their dogs walk around alone. When you see a pure bred and you talk to the owner, usually it will tell you that the dog is going to dog shows or is a working dog. The best thing I can say is that to see a Gordon Setter with his lady or a young girl walking around in shops with her German Shepherd is a very nice site. Also, I noticed the love for the dogs in another way; have you ever seen a dog in a big fashion clothing store? Almost every shop I entered I noticed a Saluki, a Golden Retriever or even a Rottweiller walking along with it's owner.

A puppy wearing the Body-Collar

I've seen many dogs there and noticed that most of them (maybe one or two out of 100+ didn't not have this) were with the body collar. No dog walk around with an ordinary collar on it's neck! Is that a kind of a fashion style? 
I was never fond of those walking collars, they are the reason for many hair problems around the front legs specially in dogs with long hair.